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Front‑line workers and advocates warn of procedural churn as denials and closures rise
Summary
AFSCME staff, legal advocates and policy groups told the Health and Social Services Subcommittee that high denial rates, missed interviews and procedural barriers are causing eligible households to lose benefits; witnesses urged funding to retain experienced caseworkers and better outreach to prevent avoidable churn.
Front‑line staff and advocates told the March 2 subcommittee that administrative churn — missed interviews, unclear notices and inadequate screening for hardship — is causing eligible households to lose benefits and experience months‑long coverage gaps.
Velvet Whitehurst, an AFSCME Local 112 worker with 25 years of experience in Wicomico County, said experience matters in preventing costly errors. "Experience helps me catch issues before they become costly mistakes," Whitehurst said, urging the subcommittee to protect staffing and retain veteran employees who can prevent overpayments and preserve benefit access.
Advocates from Maryland Family Network and the Public Justice Center described patterns they see in appeals and representation work: Lisa Klingenmeier of Maryland Family Network highlighted that TCA combined with SNAP remains below the statutory minimum living level target and urged timely TCA increases; Michelle Madeo of the Public Justice Center recounted an appeal in which a household living in a domestic‑violence shelter submitted documentation but still had benefits closed under the 60‑month time limit until counsel secured reinstatement at a hearing.
"When families are denied and terminated, they experience several months gap in not receiving the benefit," Madeo said, describing cases where hardship screenings were not applied at intake and notices and scheduling hiccups pushed households out of the program.
Data discussed during the hearing supported advocates’ concerns: DLS told the committee that roughly 9,700 TCA cases closed for reaching the time limit between November 2023 and October 2025, and that failure to reapply was a top cause of SNAP closures in several quarters.
Witnesses asked the subcommittee to fund staffing, technology and outreach — bilingual notices and text reminders were discussed — and to reduce procedural barriers that push eligible households off benefits. Callie Shumas of the Maryland Center on Economic Policy urged using TANF flexibility and targeted short‑term payments to shore up households during transitions and recommended investment in staffing and systems to prevent administrative churn.
The panel concluded public testimony and requested DHS provide additional data on denials, reopenings, and the racial/ethnic breakdown of closures to assess equity impacts.
